Written by Jesse Lamovsky

---

The Cavaliers had exactly one day to savor their last-second victory in Atlanta before being served with a dose of their own medicine. Nicolas Batum’s three-pointer with 0.5 seconds remaining in the second overtime gave road-weary Portland its first victory in the fifth game of a seven-game Eastern swing, 118-117. The loss dropped Cleveland to 4-13 on the season.

Cleveland hasn’t won back-to-back games since last March, and Saturday’s defeat was a reminder of what being an NBA bottom-feeder is all about. If a game was ever set up in advance to be won, it was this one- at home, against a substandard team deep into a fruitless and exhausting road trip and on the second night of a back-to-back. And the Cavaliers actually played fairly well. But they still lost.

The loss wasted a crisp, balanced offensive effort that belied a 43.4 overall shooting percentage. Cleveland dished out 32 assists, doubling up their 16 turnovers. Eight Cavaliers scored in double figures, led by Alonzo Gee’s 22. Making like Dewey Howard’s Orlando Magicians, Cleveland fired up 35 three-pointers and made 13 for a not-too-terrible 37.1 percent.

Anderson Varejao was once again superb. Knocking down the outside shot with aplomb and making the usual variety of hustle plays that don’t show up in the box score, the Brazilian racked up 19, 17 and 5 on 7-of-11 shooting. Even a dislocated finger in the first quarter couldn’t slow down Varejao, who simply had the wounded digit popped back into place and kept going.

Dion Waiters, who hit a couple of big shots in the first overtime that salvaged yet another miserable shooting night, suffered a more serious injury when he rolled his left ankle during the second overtime. Waiters makes Larry Hughes look efficient as a shooter, but he did contribute 7 assists and 5 rebounds to Saturday’s effort.

Cleveland also got a boost from an unexpected source- its bench. The usually meager unit accounted for three double-digit scorers. Tyler Zeller had a double-double 14-and-10, knocked down 6-of-11 from the field and even blocked two shots. Donald Sloan added 10 and Omri Casspi, who has been decent in a deep-reserve role, had 11 points and 6 rebounds while knocking down three big three-pointers.

Unfortunately, the Cavaliers also brought their usual defense to the party, and it cost them. The slump-shackled Trail Blazers, who clanked away for 35-percent shooting in their previous two games (including the first victory of the season for the Wizards) got healthy against Cleveland, hitting a solid 48.9 percent. Portland put three players over the 20-point mark: cool rookie Damian Lillard, who knocked in 24 to go with 11 assists; Batum, who shrugged off a rash of early missed bunnies to put in 22 including the game-winner, and LaMarcus Aldridge, who scored 21. If the Blazers had dead legs they didn’t show it.

Next: Monday night at 7:30, when the Cavaliers take on the Pistons at the Palace.